Conman dupes Bengaluru woman he befriended on a matrimonial site of ₹3.9 lakh

Posing as a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) from Sweden, a conman allegedly cheated a 29-year-old private firm employee of ₹3.9 lakh under the pretext of sending jewellery and cash worth ₹42.4 lakh.

Based on a complaint filed on Thursday, the Central Division Cyber Crime Police have registered a case of cheating and impersonation under various sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000, for further investigation.

The victim, Soubhagya, a resident of Malleshwaram, had met the accused on a matrimonial site, according to the complaint. The accused introduced himself as Nagaraj Amit, currently residing in Sweden, and started chatting with her on WhatsApp. Nagaraj told Soubhagya that he liked her profile and informed her parents to proceed with other formalities for their marriage.

The accused informed her that his birthday was on September 8 and while shopping for himself, he had also purchased some gold items as gifts, which he would be sending to her by air.

The next day, the accused called her and said that the Delhi Airport custom officials had seized the gifts, which included gold ornaments and other expensive items, along with ₹43,46,600 in cash. He said that a custom fee had to be paid to get back the valuables and sought her help for the same.

Following this, the victim borrowed ₹3.9 lakh from three of her friends, her sister-in-law, and her sister-in-law’s friend, before reportedly transferring to an account the accused had shared.

The fraud came to light when the accused’s phone was found to be ureachable when the victim tried to contact the former after transferring the money. It later turned out that the money was transferred to a savings back account of Meghalaya Cooperative Bank, following which, the victim lodged the complaint.